He said that over a long time U.N. humanitarian agencies were turning a deaf ear to Russia’s warnings about a civil war unleashed in eastern Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS, August 14, /ITAR-TASS/. The United Nations is becoming more unbiased in assessing the situation in eastern Ukraine and has begun to sound alarm about possible attack on the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, Russia Permanent Representative at the U.N. Vitaly Churkin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

He said that over a long time U.N. humanitarian agencies were turning a deaf ear to Russia’s warnings about a civil war unleashed in eastern Ukraine.

“Regrettably, for a long time, they have been excusing themselves by the lack of verified information: maybe, they were too na·ve to believe the Ukrainian authorities, who still keep on saying there is no humanitarian crisis in southeastern region,” he said, adding that there were no U.N. representative in eastern Ukraine to confirm Russia’s reports.

Now, U.S. agencies “are supplying more and more objective, and what is most important, regular reports from eastern Ukraine,” Churkin said. In his words, the United Nations is furnished with “nearly exact” data about casualties and mass exodus of civilians from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Thus, on Wednesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that the number of those killed had nearly doubled in the past two weeks, exceeding 2,000 people. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Vincent Cochetel, who visited Ukraine a week ago, said he was not prepared for what he saw in eastern Ukraine.

“It means that the United Nations has begun to sound alarm - if Donetsk or Lugansk are stormed, consequences will be catastrophic,” CHurkin said.